Polytag, a leading innovator in the recycling industry and world leader in tagging and tracing packaging, has issued a bold call to action for sector-wide collaboration to transform the UK’s struggling plastics recycling system. Launching a new whitepaper at an event attended by high-profile industry players, Polytag has outlined a practical, scalable blueprint for a circular economy, rooted in barcode-level traceability and next-generation sorting infrastructure – using technology that is already installed and delivering results today.
The company is urging FMCG businesses and recyclers to act now, as policies such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), the Plastic Packaging Tax, and new Recyclability Assessment Methodologies (RAM) increasingly require robust, verifiable data and measurable environmental outcomes. While these frameworks are already in motion, their effective enforcement hinges on accurate, granular data, something only achievable through full lifecycle traceability of plastic packaging.
Four key actions are recommended to future-proof the system:
- Prioritise item-level traceability
Move away from estimates and enable real-time, barcode-level data on packaging to improve compliance, reporting, and recycling outcomes.
- Scale collaborative infrastructure
Co-invest in detection technology and share data across the value chain to build a unified, efficient national recycling system.
- Adopt next-gen sortation
Deploy technologies that sort plastic by food-grade status, polymer type and brand ownership, minimising contamination and enabling true closed-loop recycling.
- Embed continuous innovationCreate systems that adapt to evolving policy, consumer behaviour, and material streams, ensuring long-term sustainability and competitiveness.
"It’s time to move from rhetoric to reality. For too long, the industry has relied on estimates, assumptions and outdated systems that simply don’t deliver, and often result in widespread downcycling of valuable plastics. We’ve shown that item-level traceability is possible now,” comments Alice Rackley, CEO at Polytag. “With regulation tightening and the pressure to prove impact mounting, the sector faces a clear choice: keep guessing, or get serious about data, collaboration and real results. The technology is ready. The infrastructure is growing. What we need now is collective action to scale it together."
Polytag is already working with leading organisations like Pellenc ST, Citeo, Biffa, Waitrose and Ocado Retail to build a network of material recovery facilities (MRFs) that can create a true closed-loop recycling system for single-use plastic recycling.
Learn more about Polytag’s technology at https://polytag.io/ or on LinkedIn.